“When Ordinary Americans Do Extraordinary Things” By Karl Zinsmeister Address to Cazenovia High School Awards Ceremony May 26, 2010

Each of you in this room has had successes you can be proud of. Some of you are math whizzes. Others may be especially musical. Some have mechanical skills. Certain of you can write beautifully, or maybe you can draw with both hands. Perhaps you just refused to quit a tough task. That’s an accomplishment in itself. You know, it doesn’t much matter specifically what you become good at. What matters is that you choose one or two areas, and do them really well. As Abraham Lincoln urged, “Whatever you are ... be a good one.” One of the great things about Americans is that we don’t sit back and wait for others to solve problems. We aren’t dependent upon experts or professionals swooping in to achieve things for us. We take action on our own. The ability of everyday Americans to accomplish great things is something I’ve seen over and over again in my life. Today I’d like to give you a vivid example that I witnessed in a war zone. From 2003 to 2006 I spent a lot of time in Iraq writing three books and making a film about what Americans were doing there. During that period there were lots of difficult battles and many examples of heroism and high achievement by Americans. But I personally believe that the single most impressive combat action of the Iraq War was a firefight won by ten MPs from the Kentucky National Guard on March 20, 2005. Here’s how it happened: A group of about 40 Iraqi fighters had set up a large ambush on a major supply road. When a convoy of civilian trucks carrying important supplies came along, they attacked, killing several drivers, and wounding some soldiers traveling with the convoy for security. That day was exactly the two-year anniversary of the Iraq War, and the terrorists had a plan. They were going to take some of the remaining drivers and soldiers hostage, then videotape their beheadings for a propaganda posting on the Internet. They were all carrying handcuffs to secure the hostages, and they had seven getaway cars sitting there with their engines running, and the trunks open to stow away the men they would kidnap. However... trailing that convoy were three U.S. humvees carrying nine soldiers of the Kentucky National Guard, plus a medic. When these Americans heard shots and saw the convoy trucks veering all over the road, they roared up and took a sharp turn right into the middle of the ambush in an attempt to protect those under attack. Now let me give you a little perspective on who these soldiers were. These were MPs—military police. In the Army, MPs are the guys who check your ID, and give you tickets if you drive too fast on base, and come round you up if you break a rule. So MPs aren’t the most popular soldiers. And these were MPs from the Kentucky National Guard. In other words, not even full-time professional Army, but part-time citizen soldiers, who had just been mobilized, and who a year later would go back to their civilian jobs. Guardsmen are not exactly the prom kings of the U.S. military. Back home, the squad leader had a desk job at a print shop in Indiana. Another of the team leaders was a saleswoman in a shoe store in Nashville. The third person I’m going to introduce you to was just out of college, where he had been a fullback on his football team. This handful of American soldiers threw themselves right into the midst of 40 heavily armed fighters. Before they’d even rolled to a stop, one of their vehicles was blasted by a rocket-propelled grenade. Huge explosion. They thought their top gunner was killed. Turns out he was just knocked unconscious, and in a few minutes he came to and joined the fight. In the back truck, all three MPs were eventually wounded by the intense gun fire. At that point the fourth man in the truck--the medic--was the only American still standing. So this man, medic Jason Mike, < PHOTO > recognizing the extreme danger, picked up the weapons of two of his downed truckmates and spent several minutes firing in two directions simultaneously. He propped a heavy SAW machine gun on the trunk of the humvee, and pointed an M4 carbine in the other direction with his opposite hand. Seeing the trouble their medic was in, the second truck restarted and drove back 100 yards under fire to assist him. The driver jumped out and dragged the wounded to cover, and the remaining soldiers fired on the surrounding Iraqis, who outnumbered them 4 to 1. Meanwhile, back up by the first truck, two sergeants sprang into action. < Next PHOTO pls > On the right you see squad leader Timothy Nein (who when he’s not doing National Guard duty is the printer back in Indiana). And on the left is Leigh Ann Hester (the shoe salesperson, who by the way is a 5’3” female). These two soldiers jumped into a dry canal from which many of the insurgents were firing, and started to fight their way forward, shooting and firing grenades. They had to reload many times, and had many close calls, but over a period of about 15 minutes, they cleared the trench of enemy fighters. As this was taking place, the medic noticed that a sniper had begun firing on them from a house about 300 yards away. Recognizing that this threatened to take out his group from the rear, he pulled an anti-tank rocket out from under the back seat of the humvee, aimed it, and fired a direct hit on the building. Remember, he was a medic, not a fighting soldier. To do this, he had to rely on the brief weapons lessons he got back in basic training. In the end, this handful of soldiers fought with enormous discipline and bravery for 30 minutes, killing 27 terrorists, wounding and capturing nine more, and saving dozens of ambushed drivers from death and torture. Then they humanely treated and med-evaced the enemy wounded, and seized this stash of weapons. < PHOTO > The three American MPs who were wounded all survived, though one lost a kidney and part of his intestine when he was shot through the abdomen, and another still carries a bullet in his lung, where it is too close to his heart to remove. For their achievements, Staff Sergeant Hein, Sergeant Hester, and Specialist Mike, < PHOTO > all earned the Silver Star, one of the Army’s highest decorations. Timothy Nein was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, a rare honor recognizing great valor. As I’ve said, I believe their actions that day represented the single bravest individual combat activity of the war. And the particular point I want you to take away is that these weren’t members of our military elite. They were not Special Forces troops. They were not Rangers, or Airborne. They weren’t even full-time Army. They were citizen-soldiers from the Kentucky National Guard, with day-jobs and families back home. I hope you’ll remember this true story—which isn’t a Hollywood fairy tale, but something I observed with my own eyes—and think about the remarkable achievements of this very small band of men and women from small-town America. And when you do, I hope it will remind you that ordinary, everyday people often accomplish extraordinary things. And so can you. Thank you very much, congratulations on your successes, and God bless you.

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